. It’s already begun reshaping our world at an exponential pace. AI-powered applications are streamlining workflows, optimizing processes and generating new data-driven insights across industries. The economic impact of AI adoption by firms is likely to emerge gradually, though, with a slow start due to upfront investment costs, followed by acceleration driven by competition and capability improvements.
Already in 2021, research found that users easily accept information from AI systems, making little effort to understand the underlying concepts or to verify the outputs. Findings in 2023 confirmed that AI significantly impacts human decisionmaking, not for the better. Playing into our existing tendency toward the path of least resistance, the availability of AI supports our disposition to.
Once we understand who we are , equipped with a solid understanding of our “natural operating system,” we can judiciously navigate the artificial operating systems in our lives. We can then use AI as a tool while providing the high-level framing, human values and ethical guardrails that machines fundamentally lack.
As AI development accelerates, it matters to be vigilant and not outpaced. Developing double literacy is an ongoing journey, not a one-time destination that will increase rather than dampen our inherent potential. We can systematically invest in continually updating our algorithmic skills while deepening our ultra-human assets. It's akin to training both hemispheres of our intelligence to operate in elegant counterpoint.